It’s already met the reserve, and honestly, I’ll be shocked if it goes much higher. It looks pretty complete though, and if you read the info below (click the “Astra GT” link above), you’ll see that if you buy this kit assuming nothing is broken you might be able to get it running over just one weekend. It’s a very simple car to put together.

Those are the shots from the eBay auction, and it’s Ite, #4636128020. Only two days of bidding left! Like I said, I don’t think the owner knows what a rare piece of US specialty car history he has here, so this thing’s a steal if you understand the basics of, say, using a wrench. No special tools are needed to finish this car!

Gary in Seattle sends in these photos of his 356 Speedster finished in 1988 after 18 months of construction — everything was taken apart, fixed up, and put back together. Among many other mods, it’s got a 2110cc engine with nitrous… VDO gauges, disc brakes, and on and on and on until about $25,000 was invested, resulting in a long series of show trophies. It’s also a daily driver, not that Seattle lets you have a daily driver with no real roof, ha…

Above are some pictures as the car looks now, and below are some pictures of the construction.

I’m told this was built for a James Bond film in 1978, around (oddly) a VW Thing chassis… Anyone know any more?

Why is it that the North American kitcar market is dominated by Cobras, Ferarris, and Lamborghinis? Sure, they’re pretty cars, but are they really what kitcars should be?

If you read a kitcar magazine from the early 80’s or older, you’ll still see plenty of replicas, but the market wasn’t dominated by any specific design, and there were also plenty of original creations. Yes, it meant that there were a lot of ugly cars, but there were also plenty of exotics that held their own when put up against any design house from Italy.

A production car, even an exotic is deisng to meet market needs — the company needs to turn around a lot of dollars to break even. A kit on the other hand was usually built around the whims of the indivual designer. They built it for themselves at a minimal cost and made it available to others as a hobby. With a small number of exceptions, kitcars has never been a high-profit industry.

The question is: do you want to own a car that will always be a low-budget copy of a real supercar, that snooty people will always laugh at you for owning? Wouldn’t you rather own an original design, a rare supercar design that you know is far more unique, and far more exotic than any Countach will ever be?  I for one vote for the originals. Kitcars let designers express themselves with cars that would never make it to market in any other way. They allow the public to buy a custom built one-of-a-kind supercar at a reasonable price. Can a Cobra do this?

Most replicas are highly inaccurate when put next to the real thing. Do you really want to be in a situation where you sink $30,000 to finish your car and then get made fun of by every kid that knows what the real thing is? Wouldn’t you rather have a car that no one else in your state has ever even seen?

Judging by the feedback that this webpage gets, there is a market for original designs, but unfortunately the few companies selling them are selling 20 year old designs. Why are there no new ones?

(Originally posted in 1998)

My friend Joe Lee sends a few pictures of what he says is a “Siva Saluki” (more information here at this Siva history site), but to me (and to him) it also looks an aweful lot like the UK based Charger kit (slightly more common). I don’t know which is a copy of which. He thinks it’s inspired by the Lancia Stratos (the wild looking prototype, not the production vehcile), whereas I am starting to far less stand by my original theory that it’s inspired by the Aston Martin Bulldog (click the “Mystery Cars” link above to see that Charger). Anyone know anything more or know the source of the pictures? Please email me or post what you know as a comment!

The leftmost picture is the Lancia Stratos concept. Thanks again to Joe! Here’s what I’ve been able to find out so far:

The car originally came out in 1973 and sold for 395 pounds (just under $6000 in 2006 US dollars). It is of course VW based, only twelve were made, and only one is believed to exist (but I think that may be incorrect).

This actually got sold as a Devin (which it looks nothing like), but of course it’s a 60’s-era first generation Aztec by Fiberfab. This one is built with a three piece body (including a hydraulically actuated canopy) on a VW chassis powered by a Corvair 6-cylinder.

By the way, take the time to zoom in so you can check out the very cool headers exiting just in front of the rear wheels.

I think he ended up selling it (for $6500, a steal!) after owning it for thirty years, but I just love the convertible conversion that Steven did on his Fiberfab Valkyrie. It’s built on a steel ladder frame with Corvair suspension, and a Chevy 350 V8 and Turbohydro 350 auto tranny. As he put it, “more fun and looks than any Corvette!”

Seriously, I don’t know why people buy things like new Vettes and Mustangs when there are well finished high performance specialty cars like this out there. Not that I’m a normal guy…